V1 Ch-1 part 2【Me, My Step-sister, and the Gal】 - ◆Part ２【Don't confess above me while I'm studying, and don't sit next to me.】

TL: Mowaso

ED: Anima

◆Part ２【Don’t confess above me while I’m studying, and don’t sit next to me.】

For Tsumugi, the Nagumo household was still a stranger’s home.

Everything she did felt somewhat restrained, as if she was living in a tight space.

At least, that was how it looked to me.

Meanwhile, spring came, the new semester had started, and I became a sophomore in high school.

There was a class change, and my classmates began to form groups with like-minded friends. There was no room for me there.

Even though I was seeking communication skills to help Tsumugi to get back on her feet, I couldn’t break free from my solitude.

(If Tsumugi was feeling lonely at home, I couldn’t be the only one to break away from solitude and seek a comfortable environment.)

I was unable to make friends because I was in a strange state of mind—a mixture of self-conceit and excuses.

“I guess I’m done with this loner identity thing…”

The only other thing I seemed to have going for me was my studies.

Since I was a loner and didn’t have friends to hang out with, I had plenty of time to study, which kept me in the top five of my year.

Thanks to these efforts, I was recognized as a character “who has a good head”—at least well enough that I wasn’t teased or bullied even when I was studying during recess.

Well, that doesn’t mean I was well-liked, either.

Although the school I was currently attending was a preparatory school, being good at studying wasn’t enough to gain recognition in the class.

“Well, the good-looking guys are the only ones who can be popular.”

With these thoughts in my head, my lunch break began.

Neither the classroom nor the cafeteria, but a reddish brown fire escape adjacent to the back of the school building, was where I ate my lunch.

There were no people around, and this place was quiet and relaxing. Across from me was a gym warehouse. Although the school ground was nearby, this place, wedged between two buildings, was always covered in shadows, so I could hardly be seen by anyone.

I sat down on the stairs and took my lunch out of my tote bag.

After quickly consuming some calories, I pulled out a set of study materials from the same tote bag. It was even quieter than the library, so I decided to study for the time being.

I did it for a while, and was able to focus.

“─please!”

I heard a voice just above me—from the second floor.

“Sorry, I’m having more fun with my friends right now.”

After a man’s voice, I heard a woman’s voice.

“But I’ll do anything to make you happy, Takarai.”

“I’m enjoying myself enough as it is, you can do those things with other girls.”

Come on, I’m in the middle of studying! I looked up, and ended up catching a glimpse of a girl’s white legs from a very low angle through the gap of the stair step. The only way I could capture such a perfect shot was to peek at the figure from below.

My heart wasn’t strong enough to look directly at her pitch black underwear, so I quickly moved my gaze back to my problem collection. I couldn’t stop my heart from pounding wildly at the outrageous sight I’d witnessed, though.

As far as I could discern from what I heard, it seemed that a girl was being confessed to by a boy.

At that point, I realized the identity of the girl whom I could only see was her underwear.

It was Takarai Yua.

Takarai was famous at our school, a gorgeous girl reputed for her beauty.

She has long, wavy gold-ish chestnut hair, smooth white skin, and upturned eyes that gave off an impression of a strong-willed woman. Her uniform was loosened, and you could tell by looking at her blazer that her chest was big. Her thighs are daringly exposed from her short, red, checkered skirt. Still, it doesn’t look vulgar, probably because of her artistic well-balanced figure.

She was always confident no matter who she was with, she didn’t give off any sense of meanness, and for me, she was so blindingly radiant that I couldn’t look at her directly.

Takarai has been receiving a lot of confessions, but until now, I’d never seen her with a man who seemed to be her boyfriend, at least not at school. I’d seen her talking with boys in class, but that was it, I had never heard of her accepting a confession.

“All right. I’ll show you how serious I am. If I yell out I love you from here, will Takarai accept my sincerity?”

“Doesn’t it have to be in front of all the students or something?”

“I can do it in front of all students or in the middle of the Tokyo Dome, I can do it, but…”

Since I had no connection with Takarai, it was none of my business, and I tried to concentrate on my studies again, but their loud voices made it difficult to do so.

Studying was my top priority at school.

The more time I lost here, the less time I would have for Tsumugi.

Apparently, Takarai was trying to refuse his confession, but the guy was persistent, so for Takarai’s safety, it might be best to shut him up quickly. Although I may not be involved with her, Takarai was still my classmate, and I wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly if something harmful happened to her. Also, it would be troublesome to be dragged as a witness to an incident that might happen due to excessive lust.

I took out my phone, opened the U-tube app, and played a song- that was famous for its magical power to pacify a crying baby- as BGM to wake up the guy who was getting excited about his confession. This would stop him from saying anything. It was embarrassing and it would become awkward.

As expected, the guy confessing seemed to be discouraged, he left quickly and said, “I’m sorry… I’ll come back later”

Good, now don’t ever choose this place as your confession spot again.

Now that it was quiet and I could concentrate on my studies, I sat down again only to find a new hindrance.

“Ah, Nagumo-kun!”

Takarai leaned forward over the handrail.

She came down the stairs with light steps and sat down right next to me.

Suddenly, the panty-shot I had seen earlier flashed back to my mind. I had to forget it. I couldn’t concentrate on my studies.

“Was that you, Nagumo-kun?”

“I saw a dangerous-looking guy run off over there, so it wasn’t me.”

“Maybe you were listening?”

She ignored me and asked in a slightly embarrassed manner.

For the record, Takarai and I had only been classmates since our second year and never had any proper conversation until now. The only time I had ever spoken to her was when she picked up my fallen eraser.

“I didn’t see or hear anything. If anything, I’m just a mere stone here.”

I didn’t want to deal with her, I wanted to concentrate on my studies.

Besides, Takarai and I were like water and oil.

There was no way that a popular, cheerful girl and a gloomy, lazy guy who did nothing but study, would get along.

“Stone?”

Takarai poked me on the shoulder unreservedly, as if to check if I was a stone.

“…A stone is a stone, but I’m a Jizo, so if you touch me more than that, you’ll get punished.” [TLN: Jizo statues are made out of stone, which is said to have a spiritual power for protection and longevity that predates Buddhist beliefs.]

“Isn’t it worse to eavesdrop?”

“I got here first. If you’ve finished your business, go back to the classroom.”

“What about you, Nagumo-kun?”

“This is my study place, you know. I spent my entire lunch break here.”

If anything, I felt much more comfortable here than in the classroom.

However, Takarai was still sitting next to me and would not move.

I couldn’t help but admire her white thighs. I’m not trying to look at them, but when I looked at the problems I was studying on my lap, it just entered the edge of my vision.

“You’re kinda cold, Nagumo-kun.”

“That’s normal.”

The person I need to worry about is Tsumugi. As long as her problem remains unresolved, I don’t have time to worry about anyone else.

In fact, recently Tsumugi seemed to be having trouble communicating with me whenever we were in the living room together, she spent more time staring at her smartphone than talking to me.

I’m clumsy, so I couldn’t perform multiple tasks at the same time. My top priority right now was to take care of Tsumugi.

“You know, Nagumo-kun…”

Takarai said as if it was natural on this flow.

“Why don’t you confess to me?”

Do people really ask such a question?

In other words, it was like saying, “Isn’t it weird that you don’t like me? I think that was a bit of overconfidence. Even if she was proud of her appearance and the number of confessions she had received… Could someone really push their confidence to the limit?

“…Normally, there are more boys who don’t confess to Takarai-san than those who do?”

“…Eh?”

As I stared at her, Takarai’s eyes widened and her white cheeks began to turn red.

“That’s… right”

A small groan escaped from Takarai’s lips and she put her hand on her head.

“I became completely dumb after receiving a lot of confessions…”

It may sound like sarcasm to some, but Takarai’s voice expressed earnestness, and she seemed to be seriously troubled by it.

Of course, there was no way I could understand someone who was being confessed too much to the point of losing their senses.

“If you just go out with someone, you won’t be getting confessions anymore.”

With that many confessions, there must be at least one guy who could pass.

“Why don’t you go after that guy?”

“I rejected him already.”

“Then you can go out with the next guy who confesses.”

I don’t want to get involved in Takarai’s romantic relationship.

It was out of my area of concern.

“Then go out with me, Nagumo-kun.”

“What? Are you trying to bully me in a roundabout way?”

“Why? You’re so mean. I’m being serious here. I think Nagumo-kun is smart and reliable.”

Takarai showed no indication of ridiculing me.

Apparently, Takarai was in such a desperate situation that she had to depend on a classmate with whom she had never had a normal conversation before.

But that didn’t change my priorities.

“I’m sorry, but I have no intention of going out with anyone right now.”

In some cases, Takarai, who was at the top rank of the caste, might have snapped at me and said, “What is this loner saying?” But she smiled, and I was astonished. Perhaps she was scared in the face of this unknown entity.

“That’s right〜 I got rejected〜”

At least she didn’t seem to be angry, but I thought this could be a pattern of her being angry while smiling, so I decided to add some follow-up words.

“I can only think about one girl right now. I don’t have time for other girls.”

She might be the most popular girl at school, but in front of Tsumugi, she doesn’t stand a chance.

I’d known her since she was a child, and she was a very important person to me.

Takarai would be able to manage without any help from me.

“What, Nagumo-kun has a girlfriend? Seriously? What kind of girl is she? Do you have any pictures of her?”

Takarai’s eyes sparkled as she approached me. Her eyes were big and clear, and another big one loomed over me as she approached, threatening to destroy my train of thought.

“No, it’s not like that.”

I hurriedly denied it.

I love Tsumugi, because she is my cousin, and now my step-sister.

“…I guess we could say the person I care about rather than my girlfriend.”

Even though I lacked composure, I somehow managed to say that much.

I wanted to show that I cared about Tsumugi, even if the other party was Takarai, who had never met her before. It was also a way to tell myself that I cared deeply about her.

“I see—It may sound like a joke, but the girl Nagumo-kun cares for, I envy her—”

“Is it worth envying?”

“It’s not something you can usually say out loud, is it?”

Maybe it was my imagination, but I felt a hint of respect in Takarai’s gaze.

“Hmm, how about something like this then?”

Takarai stood up and looked down at me with her hands on her hips.

Because of her short skirt, if the wind blows, it would be a disaster… The wind was rather strong here… Would I be safe?

“You don’t have to be my boyfriend, just play the role of someone who calls me on my lunch break to confess. Every day.”

She said something ridiculous.

“I thought you would order me something unreasonable… But, what does that even mean?”

“I was always being called during lunch break lately──”

This was what Takarai had told me.

Takarai, the most popular girl in school, has been getting confessions every day, especially during the lunch break when she has time to spare, and because of the confession calls, she had to go around the school. Thanks to that, she was unable to spend the lunch break with her friends and could only eat quick meals such as bread and rice balls from the convenience store.

“Then you should just refuse them when they call you.”

“You can’t just refuse someone without listening to what they have to say.”

Takarai was oddly disciplined in strange places. Perhaps her frivolous appearance was just for decoration. She might be a bit of a pushover. She looked like a strong-willed person, though.

“Besides, it was mentally bad for me to keep refusing.”

Not only the person who got rejected, but also the person who got confessed was hurt at the end of the confession, or so I’ve heard. In my opinion, that logic works only for those who are popular.

“So, I will come here and tell my friends, I’m being called , but I won’t mention that it’s Nagumo-kun. Then I can refuse without lying by saying, sorry I have an appointment first, and my lunch break wouldn’t be ruined anymore.”

So, she was telling me that to avoid having her lunch break ruined by a boy she didn’t know, she would use me as a confessor to fill the empty slot.

I couldn’t think of what to say, but the fact that there was no consideration for my convenience showed the discriminatory mindset of those at the top of the school caste.

“Are you saying that you’re going to spend your entire lunch break here?”

“Yes. No one comes here, and it’s a nice hideout.”

Takarai looked around the place. She looked like a boy who had found a secret base and was very excited.

Of course, I didn’t want to lose the study spot I had found. I wanted to maintain the space where I could study alone as usual.

But… I realized that my attitude wasn’t good enough. I’m a loner and I don’t interact with my classmates. I didn’t regret focusing my time on studying, but I did feel bad about neglecting to socialize with others.

Takarai was easier to talk to than I thought, and if I could use this opportunity to practice interacting with girls, I might be able to understand Tsumugi. Thinking about it, there were some advantages to getting involved with Takarai, though it would decrease my study time in exchange.

“…As long as you don’t distract me, then fine.”

“Seriously? Okay, okay. I won’t disturb you!”

The moment I said that, Takarai immediately snuggled up to my shoulder.

“That’s why I’m telling you to stop doing that.”

“Why?”

“Takarai-san, the common sense of girls like you is insanity in my world. I can’t concentrate on my studies when I’m subjected to your insanity, so stop it.”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about, but can I take it that you’re embarrassed?”

Takarai grinned impishly and made a very nasty look.

“I’m not embarrassed.”

“Eh—Really?”

Takarai closed the distance between us even more.

Even though she was wearing a blazer, I could feel her soft touch, her temperature, and other vivid information.

“Anyway, don’t get in the way of my studies, okay?”

My body was extremely hot and I was worried that Takarai would notice it.

“Yes, yes.”

As soon as she replied, whether she understood or not, the bell rang.

“What should we do? If we go back to the classroom together, wouldn’t it create some kind of misunderstanding?”

“It’s fine. The humanity-level difference between me and Takarai-san is too great. There’s no room for suspicion. Don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t you feel sad when you say that yourself?”

“If I felt sad about something like this, I would have refused to go to school a long time ago.”

“Look, we’re friends now…”

“It’s hard enough to be pitied. Was that your finishing blow?”

Maybe tomorrow my seat will be vacant. Well, since I didn’t want to make Tsumugi worry, I’m going to school no matter what.

That’s how I ended up being on good terms with Takarai, with whom I’d never had any kind of interaction before, even though we only shared a secret place during our lunch break.

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